{"id":53442,"date":"2023-06-26T16:19:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T23:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53442"},"modified":"2023-06-26T16:19:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T23:19:13","slug":"calif-woman-sentenced-to-30-months-in-prison-for-using-inmates-info-to-illegally-get-over-500000-in-covid-jobless-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53442","title":{"rendered":"Calif. Woman Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Using Inmates Info to Illegally Get Over $500,000 in COVID Jobless Aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A San Bernardino County woman was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits using the names of inmates locked up in the California state prison system.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cynthia Ann Hernandez, 33, a.k.a. \u201cCynthia Roberts,\u201d of Victorville, was sentenced by United States District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who also ordered her to pay $515,138 in restitution.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hernandez pleaded guilty on January 23 to one count of mail fraud and one count of access device fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Hernandez] orchestrated a sophisticated scheme that deprived the state of over [$500,000] meant to provide relief for vulnerable taxpayers who were unable to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. \u201cShe did so by applying for UI benefits for people who were plainly ineligible and did so for her own financial gain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Visualization<\/p>\n

During the summer of 2020, officials stated that Hernandez filed with the California Employment Development Department (EDD) fraudulent applications for UI benefits in the names of persons incarcerated in the California state prison system who were ineligible to receive jobless benefits. <\/span><\/p>\n

EDD manages California\u2019s unemployment insurance benefits program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hernandez falsely stated on the UI benefits applications that the named claimants were individuals whose employment had been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and were eligible for pandemic unemployment assistance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. <\/span><\/p>\n

Congress passed the CARES Act in March 2020 in part to help individuals whose employment and finances were adversely affected by the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The applications also falsely stated that the named claimants were eligible for the UI benefits and that they resided and worked in Los Angeles and Orange counties. <\/span><\/p>\n

EDD then authorized Bank of America to issue debit cards in the claimants\u2019 names that were mailed to Hernandez\u2019s mailing address.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Hernandez caused at least 29 fraudulent applications to be filed with EDD.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Assistant U.S. Attorney Haoxiaohan Cai of the General Crimes Section prosecuted this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice\u2019s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/disaster-fraud\/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A San Bernardino County woman was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits using the names of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nCalif. Woman Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Using Inmates Info to Illegally Get Over $500,000 in COVID Jobless Aid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A San Bernardino County woman was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calif. Woman Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Using Inmates Info to Illegally Get Over $500,000 in COVID Jobless Aid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A San Bernardino County woman was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-26T23:19:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"219\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53442#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53442\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Calif. 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